King, John – Obituary

A Direct Descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers, and an Honered Pioneer of Eastern Oregon

At the home of his daughter, Mrs. E.L. Harris, in Elgin. December 12, 1904. John King, aged 84 years, 9 months, 10 days.

The deceased was among the well known citizens of Union and Wallowa counties, in which territory he had made his home since 1882. A son of Jacob King, one of Ohio’s pioneer settlers, he was able to trace his lineage directly to the Pilgrim Fathers, whose landing at Plymouth Rock in 1820 (Says 1820) marked one of the events which were to have distinctive quality in the history of our land.

He was the third born in a family of eight children and was born near Zanesville, in Perry County, Ohio, March 2, 1820 of which family only three are now living. In 1849, on July 4th, he was united in marriage to Miss Maria A. Dawson, and to this union was born eight children, four of whom are now living.

In early manhood he hewed out his home in the timbered regions on the south bank of the Maumee river, thirty miles from Teledo, Ohio, and here it was that his own family was born and reared. here, too, at his early home, he was wont to receive visits from many of Ohio’s great pioneers, among whom were general James Steelman and General Mead, whose records as Ohio pioneers are part of the state’s history.

At his boyhood home, the tavern built by Jacob King beside the old stage road near Fremont, Ohio, he attended school at a common log school house where he had as a class mate the late Rutherford B. Hayes, later distinguished by elevation to the Presidency of the United States. with him the subject of this sketch has often wrestled on the playground, and in his later life he rejoiced to recount the events of his association with the late President.

Leaving Ohio in 1868 he moved to Vandalia, Payette county, Illinois, where he and his family made their home on a prairie farm until 1882, when he again moved toward the West, this time settling in Wallowa Valley, Oregon and in this region he had continued to reside until the time of his death.

Despite his extreme age, Mr. King had always enjoyed good health, and was a man of unusually sprightly physique. His last illness came upon him only a few weeks ago. The funeral services were conducted at the Presbyterian church on Wednesday afternoon, after which the remains were laid away in the city cemetery.